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From: chabot@miles.DEC (Bits is bits)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Authors' Protagonists
Message-ID: <2255@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 18-May-85 17:26:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.2255
Posted: Sat May 18 17:26:56 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 20-May-85 20:14:58 EDT
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I can think of piles of authors: Pamela C. Dean, Steve Brust, Patricia C. Wrede,
Will Shetterly (4 young, new fantasy writers), Sherri Tepper (the stories of
Mavis ManyShaped are wonderful, and yes, that passage where Mavis explains to
her little brother about why women don't like rape is *marvelous*; also _The_
Revenants_ is a vivid fantasy whose protagnist is male and female (changes 
every-so-often)), James Tiptree Jr, C J Cherryh (although I have a friend who
objects to her male characters since they have self-doubt!), R. A. MacAvoy ... 
hmmm, these are all fantasy/science-fiction writers, and that might not be to
your taste. 

Okay, how about James Faulkner (the chapter from Addie in _As_I_Lay_Dying_ is
devastating), George Elliot (at least, _Middlemarch_ is excellent, if rather
long), Charlotte and Emily and Anne Bronte, George Meredith, Henry James,  ...

There.  I thought of 5 men.

I give up.  These are favorites of mine.  There are many authors I enjoy who 
can't write believable female protagnists, and I wince a lot and complain.
One thing I always hate are the stories where all the adventuring is done by
male characters.  This happens a lot in kids books.  Ack!  I remember reading
lots of books where a boy rode off in a spaceship, but the only female I can
remember is Miss Pickering--and she was elderly.  Well, these days things are
getting better: there are new authors who don't think they have to make the
character male so that people will believe the story--some don't even disguise
their first names.

L S Chabot   ...decwrl!dec-amber!dec-rhea!chabot   chabot%amber.dec@decwrl.arpa